And How Did We Get Here
by Red Bess Rackham
Summary: It was like walking through a candy-colored temple laced with a thousand different ways to kill you. And there's the problem: how do you find them without setting them off? Gale/Katniss, Oneshot, AU. Spoilers for MJ. T for minor language and character death.


**Disclaimer: **The odds are not in my favor... still. I'll let you know when that changes and I inherit the rights.**  
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**A/n: **This one is little bit different and er, extra tragic? AU, and spoilers for Mockingjay (more or less). Also, warning for some language.

**Prompt: **_gale/katniss; and now all your love is wasted, and who the hell was i?_ (For the diagnosis)

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**And How Did We Get Here**

The problem was that the maps on the holo only showed so many pods. It was like walking through a candy-colored temple laced with a thousand different ways to kill you and you only know of a fraction of them.

Katniss is in front with Gale, picking their way down the debris strewn road, ducking in doorways. They've left most of the others behind, split up, trying to cover more ground. They've been quiet and intense, feeling each other without words. It's all instinct and though the setting has changed, and they have changed, the way they work together is one thing that hasn't.

They come to an intersection and while the holo doesn't indicate a pod, the hairs on the back of his neck are standing up and he knows better than to ignore his instincts. They hang back and he tosses a rock and they wait, so tense they ache, but nothing happens.

And herein lies the problem with the hidden booby traps in the temple: how do you find them without setting them off?

He takes a cautious step forward, bow up and she sucks in her breath. She follows just as carefully and they stick to the edges as much as possible. They're crossing onto the far street and she feels her shoulder relax just the tiniest bit _(never relax, you can't relax)_ –

"Katniss!" he shouts and everything is one instant. His bow clatters to the pavement and tiles, something's exploding red and smoky and metal and he's shoving her and she's down and the ground shakes and something is wet and her ears are ringing –

And just like that it's over. _(It's over, it's over)_

He's gasping and she can't breathe. The smoke is clearing and the pod was an explosion of bullets and shrapnel in every direction. She can't waste thought on how he knew what was happening because as she picks herself up, she sees the damage that has been done.

"Damn it, Gale!" She yells and he can tell she's trying hard not to sob as the red blooms across his chest. "Why did you do that? _Why? _Why would you _do _that!"

It's not funny – it's not funny at all – but he laughs. He can't understand how she is both the smartest and dumbest person he thinks he's ever known. "I couldn't let you get hurt. You're the Mockingjay."

"You idiot," she shakes her head.

"Catnip…"

"Don't call me that," she snaps and the tears are rolling freely down her face now.

She's ripped her jacket off and is trying to put pressure on the holes in his chest but they both know she can't heal worth shit (besides, there's still the deep gash across his handsome face and the slice in his scalp, the chunks out of his legs, the metal embedded in his strong, strong arms). She's never had the same knack for healing as her mother, as Prim, has never really known what to do. He saw how hopeless she was trying to heal Peeta back in that cave during the Games (which is millions of miles away and _how did we get here_).

She hates that he took all of the flak cannon explosion, that he used his body to protect her from getting more than a few scratches.

"Katniss," he says instead of her nickname now, a little more firmly, and his head is swirling and he knows this is it _(it's over, it's over)_. "You have to go, you can't stay. You have to finish this and get to Snow."

"Gale, please…" Her jacket on his shredded chest is soaked through now, hands shining and red. "How could you do this? How _could_ you?"

He reaches his hand up to her cheek. "I love you." He says it like it's the most obvious thing in the world. And she knows, she's known ever since he kissed her in the woods and why didn't she understand just how much he meant to her too before this moment?

"You can't leave me here – " she chokes. She doesn't deserve this – or maybe she does – and she never deserved him, she thinks, and her knees are soaked and her world is shattered and _God, _she loves him back –

But he's already gone and he'll never hear the words she could never return.

She collects his bow and has no choice but to move on – _this. is. war._

She will not let them take anything else from her.


End file.
